None of us really knew what to expect on Ash Wednesday.
We've never recognized Lent as a family before. My dad left the Catholic church in college (before meeting my mom who was raised Baptist) and we are just circling back to some of the traditions which we were never introduced to in the Protestant church.
I loved Advent, but I didn't know how I would feel about Lent. I am actually still figuring out what it is really about and how we can use it as a tool to draw nearer to the Lord. For that's what it is, a tool (not a Biblical mandate.)
Well, Ash Wednesday kind of sneaked up on us. All we knew is that Wednesday our fasting would begin, and for my family, that meant that we were going vegetarian.
Excepting chicken broth, none of us are eating any meat during the weeks of Lent. Today, being Sunday, we are breaking our fast (just ate three slices of pepperoni pizza) but tomorrow, I will be a vegetarian again.
So far, it has been fairly easy. The hardest part isn't craving meat, but figuring out what to eat instead. I usually plan a meal by choosing the meat and then adding vegetables and sides afterward. Skipping that usual first step is tricky.
My sister and her husband came over and made gnocchi with a pesto cream sauce. Through my assistance in the kitchen, I learned that gnocchi could never be called a quick-n-easy meal, but was it vegetarian? Was it delicious? Yes and yes.
The next day, I made a spinach walnut penne dish which went over quite well and last night we had eggs, fruit and biscuits for dinner. We love fruit and vegetables and bread and pasta, so it's really not that bad at all, except when trying to fill up and add variety.
So yes, I am a vegetarian.
Six days a week.
For forty days.
Even without a lot of preparation, Ash Wednesday went quite well. We gathered as a family in the evening and went through a couple of neat devotionals my mom had ordered. We lit green and white candles on our wreath, snuffing the first candle as the wooden Christ figure carried his cross one step forward.
Just before we opened our books, Jubilee came in and announced that Lotta didn't seem well. I nervously followed her into her bedroom where I found that her little gray hamster was curled up in a ball, barely responsive. We then cleaned out the habitat and put in fresh shavings, trying to make Lotta as comfortable as possible (we wondered if she perhaps had an allergy to the shavings we had used that week) but then Jubilee had to be peeled away from bed-side nurse duty for devotional time.
We had a good discussion, some prayer and even music, but Jubilee sniffing back tears from her spot in the couch cushion crack really made Ash Wednesday as somber as it perhaps should have been otherwise.
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| Sabrina and Jubilee during devotional time on Ash Wednesday |
Reading about Christ's sacrifice and the purpose of this season (to discover our own sin in order to be further sanctified) it seemed silly that I had a huge lump in my throat over a six month old hamster who doesn't even know her own name.
Really, the lumpy throat was more for Jubilee than for Lotta, but the contrast was visible nonetheless.
After we prayed and were "dismissed," Jubilee dashed off to check on the poor rodent who still looked unwell. The next morning, as I came down the creaky stairs to eat my breakfast before work, I was met with the tentacled silhouette of Jubilee's hair in my mother's doorway.
"Lotta died." I heard her say unemotionally. "She's in that paper towel over there."
Burying a hamster on the second day of Lent was a good reminder, I think. We've been talking about the things we really need and the things we might be asked to give up. We've been talking about earthly treasures compared to heavenly treasures and Jesus' triumph over death. Little Lotta couldn't quite conquer the grave, but she did get a nice little plot near my late hamster, under a lovely tree. And we think kindly of her since her passing. What more could a hamster want?
In the days since, we've been no more prepared for Lenten Devotional than we were on Wednesday, but so far we've had no more fatality. As a matter of fact, several animals have probably been spared because of our new diet. I really like the books we've been reading out of and the wreath, in it's full glory, is bright enough to read by and too bright to look at when sitting nearby.
Today, as I said, we've broken our fast (as we'll do every Sunday---it is supposed to be a celebration of the resurrection or "mini Easter") and tomorrow we'll be back to being vegetarians. Who knows, maybe we'll learn to like it so much that we'll never go back to being omnivores. I never much liked handling raw meat anyway...
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